THE SUPERVISOR/HR NEWSLETTER Helpful Resources from your Employee Assistance Program

March Online Seminar Disrupting Negative Thoughts It’s not negative thoughts themselves that are the issue; rather, it’s when we believe those negative thoughts. Learn how to gain control over negative thoughts and turn them into positive ones.

Available on demand March 21st at www.deeroakseap.com

MAR 17 Upcoming Supervisor Excellence Webinar Series & Leadership Certificate Program How to Motivate Your Employees

Motivated employees are engaged and productive. This important session discusses research on employee motivation, identifies the three primary needs that employees seek to meet at work, and discusses management approaches to help create and maintain a motivated team. Two available sessions: Friday, April 21st, 1:00-2:00 PM CT

Register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6165037942678526724 Monday, April 24th, 1:00-2:00 PM CT

Register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4177758636403661060

Helpline: 888-993-7650 Web: www.deeroakseap.com Email: [email protected]

Members that attend 5 out of the 6 webinars will receive Deer Oaks’ 2017 Leadership Certificate.

Do You Avoid Dealing with Difficult Employee Issues? Do any of these 5 situations resonate with you? 1. One of your employees is consistently late for work. Since it’s only a few minutes, you justify to yourself that it’s not a big deal even when it’s apparent that the work is affected. 2. You have an employee who refuses to take on an assignment because she says that it’s “not in her job description”. You know that these are tasks that she should be doing, but she’s a great employee otherwise and you don’t want to make waves. 3. Your staff spends a lot of down time above and beyond appropriate breaks or lunch periods to gossip. It bothers you that this happens every day and that work is not getting done, but you don’t address it. 4. You’ve been approached by one of your employees who is uncomfortable with the comments that another co-worker made about the anatomy of a female employee. You tell the employee who brought this to your attention that until the female employee complains, she must be fine with the comments. You don’t investigate the issue. 5. All of your employees work hard and go above and beyond with the exception of one employee who makes a point of only working half as hard as the rest of the team. Instead of addressing the issue with the offending employee, you give his assignments to others on the team because they know how to “get things done”. Managing employees isn’t easy, even when you’re not faced with difficult employee issues. Taking action when there are inappropriate situations with your staff in the workplace is all part of the supervisory role. Avoiding difficult work place issues creates– • Resentment with the rest of the staff who may feel that you are favoring the difficult employee • Loss of respect and credibility from your employees and your manager • More time spent listening to employee complaints which takes away from everyone’s ability to be productive during the work day • Increased turnover. Many people choose to leave an organization rather than continuing to work for a company that appears to lack leadership • Lost productivity • Additional costs to your business when work is not done • Affects your confidence in your ability to manage and lead staff Take Action: Decide here and now that you want to create a work environment that is not only productive, but where all of your employees understand what is expected of them and are happy and engaged in their work. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com



ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dianne Shaddock is the Founder of Easy Small Business HR.com, a website which provides “Quick and Simple Human Resources Strategies for Small Businesses, Non Profits, and Entrepreneurs. Go to EasySmallBusinessHR.com for more tips on how to hire and manage your staff more effectively.

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Ask Your EAP! The following are answers to common questions supervisors have regarding employee issues and making EAP referrals. As always, if you have specific questions about referring an employee or managing a workgroup issue, feel free to make a confidential call to the EAP for a management consultation. Q.  Is it okay for supervisors to talk about their personal problems and stress in front of employees, or are we supposed to never let them see us sweat? A. Employees who perceive you as a “real person” are more likely to consider you approachable when the need arises for help or intervention with job problems they can’t handle alone. This does not mean that you must make an effort to share your personal problems. Instead, you should present yourself in a way that matches your personality style and facilitates a professional and constructive relationship with employees. It is a matter of choice regarding how much you personally share, unless your job setting dictates otherwise, such as in a military or similar context. There is no hard-and-fast rule about personal disclosures, but you should consider their impact regardless. Remember, your relationship is not just with your employees, but also with each individual employee. Some employees may need you to be direct and formal, while others may benefit from seeing your more vulnerable side. Both types of employees can be high producers. Q. We have an employee who gets very angry and exhibits rage. Thankfully, his performance is good, but I worry about having to fire him someday. What is the risk of violence if an employee like this is fired? A. An examination of workplace violence incidents shows some common patterns. One is an employee’s violent response to unexpected termination where, as a result, the employee believed the company or supervisor “ruined” his life. This underscores the importance of working closely with employees in correcting performance, using the EAP, providing regular feedback, and having regular performance reviews. Use performance improvement plans and apply progressive disciplinary steps if ever needed, where each step is accompanied by an alternative to attend the EAP. This leveraging approach can prevent the dismissal of some of the most difficult employees. No one can predict an employee’s reaction to termination, but the less sudden and surprising it is to a potentially violent employee, in all probability, the lower the risk of a violent response. Q. What does it mean to be a proactive supervisor? A. A proactive supervisor is a manager engaged in the supervisory role, making decisions that support the essential functions of the position and the organization’s mission. Proactive supervisors are more successful at establishing the conditions that require their response, while supervisors who are not proactive must react more often to conditions that are thrust upon them. When supervisors are proactive in supervision, they think and act upstream to produce and create desired outcomes, rather than waiting and reacting to issues, concerns, problems, and crises that will appear later, often in more severe forms, and directly as a result of a failure to be proactive. Being proactive allows them to manage stress more effectively, and they go home at the end of the day less tired. Proactive supervisors are able to influence direction, control events, and feel more satisfaction in their positions. They put out fewer fires. Being proactive does not mean supervisors will not experience sudden problems or crises that require attention and an immediate response, but it does mean that they will naturally experience fewer of them. Copyright © DFA Publishing, LLC Information contained in this newsletter is for general information purposes only and is not intended to be specific guidance for any particular supervisor or human resource management concern. Some of it might not apply to your particular company policies and available programs. This information is proprietary and intended only for eligible EAP members. For specific guidance on handling individual employee problems, consult with Deer Oaks by calling the Helpline.

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